FR0z3N
by RiderExMachina
Summary: Frozen, but reimagined as cyberpunk.
1. Chapter 1: The Magic

Elsa fingered the infochip in her pocket and smiled, imagining the glee her sister would have at the contents. Anna's eighth birthday party had been the day before, but because of the number of kids who had shown up, Elsa had decided to wait to give Anna her present.

Anna sat in one of the loveseats that surrounded the oval coffee table in front of it, humming and gesturing at whatever images her implants projected before her. Elsa sat beside her younger sister and tapped the red head's temple, allowing her to see what Anna was seeing.

In front of the girls, a hologram of a dog whirled around the coffee table, stopping only to jump onto Anna's legs for the briefest of moments as if to say "Come on, let's play", and then returned to its circle. Had the dog not been going _through_ the table, Elsa would have thought the dog to be real, but cheap AI programs for children were not known to be programmed to be smart enough for outside object detection.

"Hey sis," Elsa said quietly to the young girl that sat beside her. "How about a present from me?"

Immediately, the dog shimmered away as Anna turned the AI program off and turned her excitement towards her elder sister.

"What is it?" She practically yelled in her excitement. Elsa grasped at the infochip again, then tilted her head coyly.

"I dunno..." she said, moving her gaze from Anna to one of the pairs of French Doors that lead to the second floor balcony. "Have you been good?" Her eyes refocused on Anna and she saw her sister shiver with excitement.

"Yes!" Anna practically jumped on Elsa, her patience almost nonexistent. "I have! Give it to me!"

The girls tumbled off of the loveseat and rolled underneath the coffee table. Not wanting either of them to get hurt, Elsa rolled a little farther over so that they were free of obstructions, and then smiled Anna.

"Okay, you've proven yourself," the elder said, taking the chip out and holding it up in front of the younger. Her sister took it and held it to her right temple, letting the Near Field Communications reader in her augments read the infochip in her hand. Elsa got up and helped Anna to her feet, tapping her sister's left temple again, allowing her to see O.L.A.F.

"Hi," said the projection in front of them. "I'm the O.L.A.F.- the Optical and Logical Artificial Friend. That's not to say I'm a fake friend; I'll be your pal through thick and thin!"

Anna looked at Elsa, tears noticeable in her eyes. "Thank you," said the younger, throwing her arms around her sister. Elsa smiled and returned the hug.

The two girls broke apart and looked at O.L.A.F., who stood watching them quizzically.

"So Elsa," said Anna, turning back to her sister. "Can you run The Magic for me again?"

"What's...'The Magic?'" O.L.A.F. tilted his head to the side, confused. Elsa gave a half grimace, half smirk as she thought it over.

"Okay," said she, tapping her own left temple twice to allow Anna to see what she was seeing. "If only for Olaf's sake."

She made a gesture that started with what looked like a relaxed point, then ended with her fingers all flicked open. From the bottom of their visions, green digital rain drifted up, a couple strings at first, then more and more as time went on.

Elsa took a moment to look at Anna, and was amused when she saw her younger sister's mouth agape in awe.

"I'd seen this on the screen before, but when it happens right in front of you..." Anna trailed off, unsure of how to end the sentence, and not really wanting to.

In front of them, only O.L.A.F. and a corner of the fancily furnished room remained, the rest was replaced with a black background overlaid with green and white symbols that streaked like shoot stars from the floor to the ceiling. As more and more of the corner became digital, the corner squashed and stretched, looking as if the girls were moving towards it, then quickly retreating. Finally the last little bit of the white room was completely snuffed out, replaced by the green and black spectacle.

Slowly the reverse digital rain faded to static, and then again to the fancy room. Anna stood, still awed at the first-hand experience with the augmented reality the new eyes gave her.

Elsa backed up, patting her little sister reassuringly on the shoulder. "You'll probably be able to do that too, someday," said she as she returned to the loveseat.

The room was modeled after a 19th century English royal's visiting room, complete with two white, plush loveseats attempting to box an oval, oak coffee table between themselves and a matching chair. The draped French doors on the two outside walls were always covered to keep the dark reality of the outside world away from the still young eyes of the two Aren sisters.

Unbeknownst to her parents, Elsa took peeks out the window to see the world outside. Despite the overly white and historic inside, even the exterior of the house proved the interior to be nothing but an oxymoron. Not twenty feet above the balcony of the south door was the unmistakable asian curl of the angled roof, and Elsa was sure the roof itself was adorned with green, clay tiles in the cliched half-pipe formation.

And then there was the city itself. Neon lights glowed from the first level of the streets and giant electronic billboards adorned most of the skyscrapers. It was as if Times Square of old New York had become its own city on that level.

Levels two and below were mostly invisible that high up. Being in the "rich" part of town, the best Elsa could see was the neon of level one and the signs in the distance.

Elsa was snapped out of her thoughts by Anna nudging her with her arm.

"I asked you a question," said the younger one, continuing to nudge impatiently..

Elsa grabbed her sister's elbow and patiently held it still. "Well, you've got my attention," she said, her patience being the yin to her sister's yang.

Anna sighed despairingly before she repeated her question. "Why do you call that 'The Magic?' It was nice, but I wouldn't consider it 'magic.'"

Elsa thought for a moment, trying to remember why she had named the program what she did. "I think," she said after a few minutes of thought. "...that it was the first program that I had made myself. So I called it 'The Magic' because it was the magical start to whatever I would make in the future."

Anna chewed her lip as she nodded and walked away, the disappointment from the answer apparent in her face.

"That's a really stupid reason." Elsa overheard O.L.A.F. whisper before the two were out of earshot.

Elsa just smiled at the place the two had disappeared and whispered, "Yes, yes it is."


	2. Chapter 2: Auggies

Elsa paced back and forth in her room, muttering "no, no, no, no, no" over and over to herself. Apparently something had snapped in Anna yesterday, back during their The Magic session. Data corruption or something, and Anna was beyond recuperation. At least, that's what the doctor had said.

Earlier this morning her mother had gone into Anna's room to wake her up. The loud shriek had woken Elsa and she and her father reached the doorway to her room at the same time. And there lay Anna, her comatose body suggesting sleep, but the open, waxy eyes betraying a more serious underlying issue.

A knock came from the door and Elsa made the gesture to show the camera feed for right outside her room. She saw her father standing at the door, his face already gaunt with worry.

"Elsa, honey, are you in there?" He knocked again.

"Go away," Elsa said. She sat down on her bed, leaned against the wall, and grabbed her knees.

Her father turned away from the door, took an indecisive step, the returned to the door. He knocked again.

"Come on, hon," he said. Elsa relented with a sigh. She released the electric lock and he entered, shutting the door behind him. He approached and sat on the bed beside her.

"You're mother's doing the same thing," he said, "But hiding and moping isn't going to bring Anna back. One of my partners says there's a group of heavily augmented people in one of the lower levels on the outskirts of town. I figure it's a good of a place to start as any."

Elsa sniffed in response.

"I'll do some digging tomorrow after work, but time is most certainly of the essence," he continued. "In the meantime, I need you to be strong. Can you do that for me?"

Elsa nodded, but bit her lip.

"Thank you," said her father as he stood up. He walked to the door, stopped, and turned around, just looking at her. Then, without a word, he left, closing the door behind him.

After he was gone, Elsa had an idea to look over the code for The Magic, see if anything stood out as potentially harmful for second-party viewers. It was possible, after all, that even if Elsa herself wouldn't be affected by side effects of any bugs, a bad line of code could hurt any additional people. Anna in particular would be at the most risk, as being so new to her augments could have amplified any of those effects.

As she processed through her code she didn't find anything harmful, but that didn't mean a lot; most of what she'd written was the gesture control. Originally the program started with a "temple tap," but Elsa had wanted something a little more elegant and spent weeks working on the current gesture. The actual visual portion came from an open source project on the net. She scrolled through that code too, but didn't understand it enough to see if anything could cause issues.

By the time Elsa was finished her father had come home from work. Her mother stayed in her room as she and her father made dinner. Quiet sobs drifted into the dining room as the two sat and quietly ate their food.

"I learned some more about the auggies," her father said, glancing towards the source of the weeping. "They may actually be able to help." He set his fork down and looked straight at Elsa. "Would you like to come with me?"

She nodded, not sure what to say.

"Then let's go tonight," he said. He picked up his fork and finished the last little bit on his plate before standing up and heading towards Anna's room. He emerged, carrying Anna in both arms. Another pang of guilt hit Elsa in the stomach at the sight of her sister, but she helped her dad put her sister in the car, before climbing in herself.

They set off, following the dark, twisting driveway to the highway that led to the city. Elsa watched her father, whose usually upbeat demeanor was replaced with solemn and worry. Elsa looked at her comatose sister before turning back towards the city. She heard her father mumble something and looked towards him, but he shook his head when he realized he'd gotten her attention.

They arrived at the city and took the exit for the lower levels. Elsa was both excited and terrified; everyone knew the lower levels were dangerous. And with her dad having a good job, they would be targets for robbery or worse. _No,_ she thought. _I mustn't think like that._ They were here for Anna. To help her. To fix something. It was going to be alright. Elsa mustered up her courage and looked at where they were.

Her father pulled into a dark alley that was littered with beer cans and used tech. Ancient keyboards lay strewn about and small circuit boards of varying colors looked like leaves just ready to be raked up. The area was dimly lit by a visual puke of various neon colors: orange, red, green, blue the most prominent.

Her father got out of the car, disgusted at the trash that also lounged around the area-including right outside his door it seemed-and got Anna out of the back seat. Elsa got out and followed him into a small building that said " **Pabbs'** " right above the doorway in a faded orange.

The cocktail smell of cigarette smoke and beer hit Elsa like a hammer made of bricks and she coughed and covered her nose to try to filter the smell. Her father had a visible grimace but was able to bear it, continuing to walk further into the building. The contents were people, all sitting in chairs with varying pieces of tech on them, zoned out and looking at the picture their implants were showing them. One person stood out, standing beside a door at the far end.

Elsa's father walked up to him. "Where's Pabbs?" He asked quietly, as if not to disturb the others.

"Who wants to know?" The man spoke fairly loudly and his voice echoed slightly in the otherwise quiet room.

"I do," said her father. He gestured towards Anna with his head. "I want to see if he can fix her."

The man squinted a little, then tilted his head slightly to the side. After a second he nodded. "Alright, go on in," he said, opening the door. Elsa and her father stepped inside.


	3. Chapter 3: Fixing Anna

The room they entered was smaller, but the lack of people made it seem more spacious. A man sat at the far side, surrounded by a few large men who scared Elsa. All of them had implants; no two matched another man's. The man in the chair, by contrast, was thin and frail-looking.

Her father approached the men, stopping about 3 meters in front of the sorry-looking throne. Elsa hid behind him. Her father wasted no time in getting down to business.

"Pabbs," he said, his pleading voice seeming weaker than normal. "I need you to help my daughter."

The two muscular men closest to the chair looked towards the smaller man. He nodded and stood up, grabbing a cane that was hidden in the armrest of the chair before hobbling over to the three Arens.

"Let me see her," he said, in a raspy, Irish accent. Her father laid Anna on the floor and Pabbs knelt on one knee to look her over. "Do you have any implants?" He asked her father, still looking over the girl.

"I do," said her father.

"You're too old to be of help," said the Auggie. "What about your other daughter?"

"She does," her father said.

"Let's bring her over then." Pabbs looked her over before motioning her to come over. "Come child, don't be scared. I just want you to watch is all."

Elsa slowly made her way past her father and stood next to Pabbs, who touched Anna's temple and then her own. Floating windows showed error logs above her sister's motionless body. The Irish auggie scrolled through the logs, searching for something to tell him what was going on.

"What happened just before she entered her condition?" He asked while he worked.

"She had just gotten her implants the day before," said Elsa's father. "It was a birthday present. She seemed to take them well, as she didn't exhibit any behavior the doctors told us would mean her body was rejecting them."

"Is that really all? There's nothing else?" Pabbs' question seemed to hit Elsa in the chest with an ice-cold pang.

"I, uh, had made her a program," Elsa said, hesitantly. "And then she watched another program I'd put together. The next morning, we woke up to her like this."

"I see," said Pabbs. "Would you let me see these programs?"

Elsa nodded and got O.L.A.F. and The Magic ready for playing, then reached a shaking hand towards the old man's temple.

"There are two," she said meekly. "The first one was a simple program I call 'The Magic.'" She went to say something else, but didn't know what else to say, so she awkwardly started the program. Pabbs watched through his implant.

"Okay," he said when it was all done. "And the other one?"

"This one was more personalized for her," Elsa said, a little embarrassed. "But this one is called O.L.A.F." She ran the program.

After O.L.A.F. had ran for a few minutes, Pabbs told her to turn it off. As she did, he opened his implants' logs and scrolled through them. He shook his head.

"There are some warnings," he said, looking closer at his and Anna's log files. "But I'm not seeing any warnings like she has."

"So then what now?" Elsa's father stepped towards the trio.

"The only the we can do," said Pabbs. "We assume it's her hardware. I can reset her software so that it's back to factory and then power it down. That should cause her brain to get over what's causing the conflict." He looked at Elsa.

"It's probably for the best she never finds out about this," he said to her. "I've seen a lot of situations like this in my time; people find out they have augments but can't use them... most of the time it drives them into hysteria and depression. It doesn't end well."

"We'll do whatever we must," her father said. His desperate tone said everything.

"Okay," said Pabbs. He turned back to Anna and made some gestures. The floating windows slid away towards her sister's body and disappeared. Pabbs tapped her temple and motioned her back to her father. She obliged.

The old man made some more gestures over the young, unconscious girl and then held his hand at the base of her skull. A small beep came from the small girl and he pulled his hand away. He returned to his seat.

"Let her sleep the night then give her a glass of water in the morning," he said. "She should be well."

"Thank you, Pabbs," said her father, picking Anna up. "I'll make sure you're paid if this works."

"I look forward to it." The small man grinned. "You know where to send the check."

Elsa looked at her father and was surprised to see the shocked and confused expression on her father's face. It was only there for a second before he shook his head a little and nodded.

"Yes, indeed," he said before turning around and walking out of the room. Elsa followed. Again, they walked through the room full of people and cigarette smoke in order to get to her father's vehicle. Once there, her father gently placed Anna in the backseat before driving back to their residence.

The drive home was silent, but it was a hopeful silence. One that Elsa thought contained an eagerness to see if her sister would wake up in the morning.

"Nothing about this to your mother." Her father's words broke the silence.

"Yes dad," said Elsa.

"I just..." Her father trailed off.

"I understand," Elsa said. "You don't want her hopes up. I know."

Her father looked at her approvingly, and she could tell a little bit of the edge was gone from his features. It looked like there was a lot that he wanted to say to her, but he stayed silent.

"I guess I'm just glad to have a smart, beautiful daughter," he said quietly.

With no further words, they arrived at the house. They silently took Anna back in and laid her in her bed. Then Elsa got a glass of water and slowly drip-fed it to her sister until it was empty. And after that, Elsa went to bed, excited yet terrified of the unknown outcome that the morning would bring.


End file.
